Effect of side incubator padding on unrestrained child crash dummy under deceleration force

Nearly 20 million low birth weight and premature infants are born each year in developing countries, 4 million die within their first month due to unavailability of incubators and neonatal intensive care. Neonates and infants that require an inter-hospital transfer or ambulance/vehicle transfer in an incubator could potentially face fatal and catastrophic events, once subjected to negative acceleration. The main factor affecting the applied force due to the harsh braking or collisional accidents to the neonate/infant is the configuration of the restraining system. By eliminating the restraining system or having low residual strength seat belts the neonate or infant can experience lifelong injuries or even death. The interior of an incubator in case the restraining system fails must be designed to protect the occupant. In this paper, the effect of the paddings on the incubator wall against the unpadded wall is studied on a crash dummy using LS-DYNA software. The deceleration pulse, velocity, and displacement are validated by a sled test at Cranfield Impact Centre (CIC).